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Regional News
TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS
May 12 - 18, 2012
Urgent need for reform after Olint campaign-finance claims Cayman premier says London
David Smith was sentenced to 30 years in prison by a US court in August 2011 after pleading guilty to money laundering and wire fraud.
JAMAICA’S political leadership is being challenged by sector groups to move expeditiously to draft and pass legislation dealing with the issue of political campaign financing in the wake of what appears to be the latest embarrassment to engulf the country’s two major political parties. President of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), Joseph M. Matalon, indicated on Tuesday that the controversy surrounding claims that local politicians received donations from collapsed Ponzi scheme Olint could have been avoided if political parties in
CARICOM foreign Ministers riled at impact of UK’s Air Passenger Duty Tax CARICOM Foreign Ministers have denounced in strong terms the negative impact that the UK’s Air Passenger Duty (APD) tax continues to have on the region’s revenue sources. According to a communiqué issued at the conclusion of the 15th Meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) held from May 3-4 in Paramaribo, Suriname, the foreign Ministers observed that the tax was distorting trade and
compromising the region’s efforts towards sustainable development, including the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The communiqué issued by the CARICOM Secretariat at the head office in Turkeyen, Guyana said that the Council resolved to redouble their lobbying efforts in the UK, and will include the continued support and influence of the Caribbean Diaspora, to vigorously advocate for review of the tax.
Jamaica, and those making contributions to them, had been held to a much higher standard in terms of public disclosure of political contributions. At the same time, Professor Trevor Munroe, executive director of the National Integrity Action Limited (NIAL), said the claims in a confiscation order of the Supreme Court of The Turks and Caicos Islands dramatises the urgency for the executive to draft, as a priority, a bill encompassing campaign-finance reform based on the recommendations of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ). News surfaced Monday afternoon that the Supreme Court in The Turks and Caicos Islands had issued the confiscation order to recover money that convicted operator of the Ponzi scheme, David Smith, gave to the Jamaica Labour Party and the ruling People’s National Party in the run-up to the 2007 general election. The PSOJ head urged the administration and Parliament to provide the country with some kind of timeline addressing when a bill on campaign financing would be tabled in Parliament and debated by the legislature. Matalon told The Gleaner the crafting and passage of the proposed law should be done expeditiously “as a commitment by our political leadership on both sides of the aisle to transparency and probity in our elections”.
VACANCIES REGISTERED SENIOR ARCHITECT Applicants must be fully qualified RIBA Part 3 and registered ARB and RIBA with a minimum of 15 years post-qualification experience, with the ability to travel freely throughout the Caribbean, USA and Europe.
SENIOR ARCHITECTURAL ASSISTANT Applicants must have a minimum of BA (Hons) in Architecture degree, RIBA Part 1 status and 10 years practical experience, with the ability to travel freely throughout the Caribbean, USA and Europe. Salaries commensurate with experiences Qualified applicants please apply in writing to:
P O Box 315, Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands Tel: 649 946 5911 or e-mail info@ swa.tcQualified Belongers only need apply.
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aims to ‘ruin’ his nation A DIPLOMATIC spat in the normally tranquil Cayman Islands has put the ruling party and the British government at loggerheads after the locally elected premier accused London of conspiring with opposition politicians to “ruin this country.” Premier McKeeva Bush accused British officials, including the British-appointed governor and police commissioner, of conducting baseless investigations into his handling of government contracts. He described the investigations on local television as “nothing more than fishing expeditions.” “The opposition, the governor, the foreign office are all trying to do one thing: ‘Let’s get McKeeva out this time, because we cannot control him,’ Bush said. The premier’s comments drew a sharp response from Governor Duncan Taylor yesterday. “The suggestion that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or I are working against the interests of the Cayman Islands is completely without foundation,” he said in a statement. The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory. It has an elected parliament, but a British-appointed governor oversees external affairs and
McKeeva Bush feels there is a conspiracy theory to get him booted.
security, including the police force. With a population of barely 55,000, the renowned offshore financial center enjoys one of the highest living standards in the Caribbean. The heightened tension between London and the premier comes before the publication later this month of a British white paper on London’s relationship with its overseas territories, which addresses improved cooperation as well as good governance, including management of public finances and debt. Nearly two weeks ago, the Cayman Islands police commissioner David Baines confirmed the premier was the subject of three police investigations, two of them involving what he said were financial irregularities.